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Don reworked an azalea hedge that had grown so tall it was blocking the light and obscuring the view from the house. It is very difficult to keep a hedge at exactly the same height. Even when hedges are trimmed regularly, they gradually grow taller and eventually need...
Tibouchinas are native to south-east Brazil, where people use the massed purple blooms to decorate churches at Easter time. Here in Australia tibouchinas also make quite a statement in autumn, with their riot of purple flowers. Don looked at Tibouchina...
Tree Farm Ten years ago landscape designer, Michael Pfahl and horticulturist, Ronan O’Connor had problems finding large trees suitable for the landscaping projects they were working on, so they decided to grow their own. Today their nursery, Treekeepers Nursery...
Variegated Eucalypts Recently on Burke’s Backyard we featured ‘Summer Beauty’ and ‘Summer Red’, wonderful hybrid gum trees developed specially for the home garden. They produce masses of flowers, and you always know exactly what colour...
White Bat Plant Don looked at one of the world’s weirdest plants. The white bat plant, as it is commonly known, has strange, almost bizarre flowers resembling a bat’s black face with white ears and long whiskers. It is found naturally in south-east Asia...
Brunfelsias are evergreen shrubs from tropical America. There are about 30 species, all with tubular flowers which change colour over successive days. Don’s favourite, Brunfelsia bonodora, has masses of violet, lilac and white scented flowers. Plant details...
These beautiful plants have a botanical name that is difficult to pronounce: schlumbergera. They are named after Frédéric Schlumberger, a collector of cacti who lived in a château near Rouen in France in the mid-nineteenth century. Although they are cacti, they are...
There are hundreds of species of bauhinia, and they all have characteristic orchid-like flowers and 2-lobed leaves. Many of the commonly grown bauhinias come from China, where they are known as sheep’s foot trees, because each leaf looks just like the cloven...
The Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) is native to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and Algeria, where it can be found in scattered stands at elevations of 1,000 to 2,500 metres. With a different growth habit to the parent plant, the blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica...
Flowers provide a temporary splash of colour in the garden, but foliage plants will give you colour all year round. There are many beautiful conifers which have blue foliage, including some dwarf varieties. They create a stunning and very classy look in the garden,...